Page 59 of The Main Event

“I’m not ashamed of what happened, Daisy.”

I was caught off guard. Where was he going with this? Was he going to—? I never got a chance to finish the thought.

“I also don’t think it’s a good idea to go for a repeat showing,” he said. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t attracted to you.” His smile was soft. “I like everything about you. This arrangement isn’t going to work if we try to wedge romance into it, though.”

“It won’t,” I agreed. I was relieved, I told myself he didn’t want to push things, and that was the best possible outcome.

So why did I feel like I was watching him kick a puppy? Wait … was I the puppy in this scenario?

“I don’t know what’s going to happen here, Daisy, and I don’t want to hurt you. I like you. I just can’t commit to anything.”

The words rankled. “Did I ask you to commit?”

“No. I just want to make sure I don’t crush you.”

Crush me? Was I twelve? “Don’t worry about it,” I replied. My tone had turned to ice. “I’m not crushed. I was about to tell you the same thing. I mean…why risk a perfectly respectable working environment for a kiss that wasn’t even that good?”

“Not that good?” He had the balls to look offended. “That was the kiss to end all kisses.”

I forced myself to shrug. “It was okay. Frankly, I’ve had better.”

“From your panty-sniffing friend?”

“Actually, Levi and I did practice kissing with one another when we were thirteen. It was embarrassing, and did nothing for either of us, but it was all about the technique. Obviously, you like my technique.” I sent him a serene smile.

“It was okay,” Jax replied.

“You just said it was the kiss to end all kisses.”

“I was bolstering your ego because of the rumor about the cold sores.” He straightened his tie. “You don’t have cold sores now, do you?”

If I thought I was annoyed before, it was nothing compared to what I was feeling in the wake ofthatquestion. “Well, we both agree the kiss sucked.” My legs felt heavy when I got to my feet. “There’s no sense in dwelling on it.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” Jax offered. “I just can’t give you more.”

“I guess it’s good I didn’t ask for more then.”

“I just?—”

I brutally cut him off. “Let’s just worry about work. The rest of it isn’t important.”

He studied my face for what felt like a really long time, then he nodded. “Okay. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”

“We most definitely are. In fact, we don’t even need to share pages any longer. I’ll do my job. You do yours.”

With that, I turned on my heel and flounced out the door. I just can’t give you more. Who did he think he was? I didn’t want more from him. Not even a little.

In fact, if I never saw Jax Hunter again, it would be too soon.

15

FIFTEEN

Imade the right decision.

That’s what I kept telling myself over and over again as the next two weeks turned into painful stretches of stilted conversation with Daisy.

With other people, she was full of sunshine and happy smiles. She laughed and joked with them. She planned and threw her parties. She brought in much-needed revenue, to the point where we almost had enough for the second phase of the construction if I wanted to continue.

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